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You are here: Home / LACE / Exhibition / Emory Douglas: Bold Visual Language

Emory Douglas: Bold Visual Language

Emory Douglas: Bold Visual Language

Curated by Essence Harden and Daniela Lieja Quintanar
Opening July 7, 2018 – 2-4pm Emory Douglas Conversation, 4-6pm Reception
Exhibition Dates: July 8 – August 26, 2018

Emory Douglas: Bold Visual Language considers the legacy and diasporic impact of the visual artist Emory Douglas. As the Minister of Culture of the Black Panther Party and the graphic artist of the Black Panther Party Newspaper, Emory Douglas’ vision of black radical politics as a set of aesthetic concerns graphs a grammar of global struggle. Douglas’ imagery of anti-black police brutality and economic/housing discrimination is interlaced with American Imperialist projects and anti-colonist struggles happening globally. The enhancement and saturation of vibrant colors, figurative refusal, kinship, and border crossing visions of justice are the dialectics of possibility. The immediacy of global terror is call to resistance by everyday folks, who are depicted as active icons in the project for liberation. Bold Visual Language locates these initial concerns of Douglas in a contemporary discourse amongst visual artists and current social movements.

This exhibition features historical Black Panther Party Newspaper’s from Southern California Library, posters of remixed images by Emory Douglas, and works by Sadie Barnette, Juan Capistrán, Patrick Martinez, and embroideries of Zapantera Negra a project by the Woman’s Zapatista Embroidery Collective in collaboration with Douglas, organized by EDELO (En Donde Era La Onu) [Where the United Nations Used to Be] and artists Caleb Duarte and Mia Eve Rollow in Chiapas, México.

LACE’s summer storefront is dedicated to exhibitions that address deep historical, social, and political research of artistic practices. Focusing on practices that urgently call to be revisited and framed in a contemporary art moment, the storefront allows LACE to integrate significant social movements into the canon of contemporary art history. Summer 2017’s storefront exhibition  El Teatro Campesino (1965-1975) initiated this curatorial focus, highlighting social art projects that define the history of Los Angeles and California, and reviving local community and personal archives. These exhibitions also create a space to host cross-generational conversations among contemporary artists.

Public Programming
Emory Douglas Conversation with Curators Essence Harden and Daniela Lieja Quintanar. Video courtesy of Mary Cullather and Los Angeles Filmforum.

August 11, 2018, Performances by Adee Roberson and Anna Luisa Petrisko. 7PMadeeanna

Adee Roberson and Anna Luisa Petrisko will perform a live activation of the Emory Douglas: Bold Visual Language exhibition. Using interwoven landscapes of video and sound, they will present textural abstractions on diaspora, healing, and community in conversation with Douglas’s work and legacy.

This performance coincides with the Black TED lectures that pertain to the CAVERNOUS exhibition by Young Joon Kwak & Mutant Salon.

Press:
Click here to read about the exhibition’s feature in Hyperallergic.
Click here to read about the exhibition’s feature in KCRW.
Click here to read about the exhibition’s feature in the LA Times.
Click here to hear our interview with KCRW.

—

THANK YOU to all our interns for their energy and work for this exhibition: Jackie Castillo, Jinseok Choi, Zehao Fu, Krystal Ramirez, Israel Cedillo, Natalie Marsh, Rui Xu, Jennifer Baltazar, Ellen Joo, Beatrice Petropoulos-White, Renee Lung, Serena Sampson and Yinchen Niu.

Support for Emory Douglas: Bold Visual Language is provided by Kathie Foley-Meyer and Irving Meyer, Pasadena Art Alliance, and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. This project is also possible by the continued collaboration with the community-owned Southern California Library and the invaluable support of artist Emory Douglas.

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Photo credit: Chris Wormald

Filed Under: Exhibition, LACE Tagged With: Adee Roberson, Anna Luisa Petrisko, Black Panters Party, Caleb Duarte, Daniela Lieja Quintanar, Emory Douglas, Essence Harden, Juan Capistr, Patrick Martinez, Sadie Barnette, Zapantera Negra

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LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)

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Please join us in welcoming two new members to the Please join us in welcoming two new members to the LACE team! 

 🌟 LACE’s new Communications + Event Coordinator, Ida Tongkumvong is a Los Angeles-based arts administrator and marketing professional with a passion for expanding access to the arts and fostering inclusivity within creative spaces. She holds a B.A. in Communications from UCLA. Her previous roles with Sounding Point, the LA Phil, and CAP UCLA deepened her commitment to broadening arts access through strategic partnerships, inclusive programming, and dynamic storytelling. With a keen interest in public art and community-based initiatives, Ida brings a thoughtful and collaborative approach to audience development and creative event planning within L.A.’s contemporary arts landscape. Outside of work, you’ll often find her at a flea market or estate sale, always on the hunt for a one-of-a-kind find.

 🌟 LACE’s new Production + Operations Coordinator, Johnny Young began making his mark on the Los Angeles arts scene as Gallery and Programming Manager for the Juicy Beats Artist Exchange Lounge in 2000. He has worked with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), where he played a key role in production and management for their First Fridays program; he was also selected for the prestigious Diversity Apprenticeship Program (DAP) at The Broad, a competitive initiative aimed at training the next generation of museum and gallery professionals from underrepresented communities. Johnny brings a sharp eye for detail, a commitment to equity in the arts, and a dedication to amplifying voices that challenge the boundaries of convention.
Did you get your tickets for “This Home, Forever Did you get your tickets for “This Home, Forever” happening this weekend? “This Home, Forever” is a stage, a forum, and a dynamic workshop nurtured by a group of artists and activists devoted to and inspired by Los Angeles. Learn more and get your tickets at the link in our bio. 

Held on the rooftop of the historic Bendix Building, performances will be presented with a 180 degree view of downtown Los Angeles. See performances by: @0ll668, @perras.bravas, @lapovertydepartment, @michelelorusso, @pacoimatechno, @jakioeoeo. 

Behind-the-scenes photos by @andreuuua  @selene__preciado and @abwyman
We’re still reminiscing about “ENDURANCE,” w We’re still reminiscing about “ENDURANCE,” which took place Saturday and Sunday, May 16–17. The series celebrated elder artists and their longstanding committment to their practices, through both performances and interdisciplinary work. Swipe through to see portraits from the two evenings, taken by Ray Barrera (@dreamfishcommuter).

Support LACE’s future, free public programs by making a donation at the link in our bio.

Performers pictured, in order of appearance: Hirokazu Kosaka, Awilda Sterling-Duprey (@awildasterling), Sheree Rose (@msrosebush), Sharon Kagan (@sharonkagan), Anna Homler with David Javelosa and Jeff Schwartz, Gloria Enedina Álvarez, Oguri, The Dark Bob, Barbara T. Smith and Ulysses Jenkins, Alice Bag (@alice_bag), Kid Congo Powers (@kidcongopowers), and Kamau Daáood.
Don’t miss the two-day series “This Home, Fore Don’t miss the two-day series “This Home, Forever” happening June 7-8, curated by LACE 2025 Emerging Curator Nahui Garcia. Held on the rooftop of the historic Bendix Building, these performances will be presented with a 180 degree view of downtown Los Angeles. Reserve your ticket to this (free!) event at the link in our bio.

Get to know the artists:

🔷 @0ll668 is an American interdisciplinary artist exploring spirituality, mythology, and cosmogony through the digital age.
🔷 @perras.bravas is a border-based collective in Ciudad Juárez created in 2020. 
🔷 @lapovertydepartment creates performances and multidisciplinary artworks that connect the experience of people living in poverty to the social forces that shape their lives and communities. 
🔷 @michelelorusso explores language as an active device, where the performativity of words not only structures reality but also exposes its limits, contradictions, and possibilities for escape. 
🔷 @pacoimatechno channels the energy of local histories, industrial landscapes, and late-night warehouse functions.
🔷 Jaklin Romine (@jakioeoeo) confronts the intersection of feminist ideals that are formed by her identity as a disabled, queer, latinx, POC, living in the Southern California landscape.

Photo: @gb_mouth
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